The Big Reunion
by PhoebeWilliams
Summary: Set 5 years after the season 10 finale. What is Cristina Yang's life in Zurich like now? Was she ever able to move on from Owen? This story is my take on what I feel is next for Crowen, and explores the fact that true love simply doesn't go away.
1. Chapter 1

_Hey stranger, just landed at the airport and will be with you in an hour. VERY excited to see you. Want me to pick up some dinner? xx_

As she read the text Cristina felt a flutter of excitement. She'd be fooling herself if she said she hadn't spent the last four months counting down to this particular moment. She'd even done the unthinkable and booked a half day off work – not a full day obviously – to ensure she was adequately prepared for their reunion. In 4 short hours she had cleaned the house (well, supervised the housekeeper), stocked up on his favourite red wine, shaved her legs and dug out matching underwear.

Leaving the text unanswered for a respectable ten minutes (can't be seen to be too keen, even now), she replied _: I guess I'm excited to see you too. Don't worry about dinner. I'm not hungry…. For food any ;)_

Cringing ever so slightly about the winky face emoji she curled up on the sofa with a glass of wine to calm her nerves. It was weird; she hadn't felt this way since her and Owen started their flirtation all those years ago – the stolen glances, unexpected kisses and long drawn out sexual tension that made her feel like a giddy love-struck teenager. In truth she never thought she would feel that way again, especially given what was to follow. But she had to admit that this long distance relationship thing was working well for her.

Before her thoughts drifted too deep, right on schedule she received a call from Shane. Just because she was on a half day doesn't mean the work stops, and she had demanded an update before he went home for the day.

" _Talk to me Ross."_

" _Hi Doctor Yang- not much to update on since you left_ _ **four hours ago**_ **,"** She could detect sarcasm in his tone which she'd reprimand him for on Monday. _"The prints are going well and are on schedule to be finished on Monday, I'll be checking in on them over the weekend. Mr. Klein's transplant went well and he's recovering nicely"_

" _Okay, good. Any news on the Ortho clinical trial progress?"_

" _No not yet, I chased Peterson for an update but he simply said that he can't rush his craft. I said you had requested an update but he wouldn't budge – you know he's not scared of me like he is of you."_

She sighed. _"What have I told you Sharky, you're too smiley. You're a cardio fellow now, and if you want people to be scared of you then you need to be scary. I'll email him and give him a piece of my mind; if he wants to continue to receive my funding then he needs to be making at least some signs of progress. This hospital isn't a charity case. Anything else?"_

" _One more thing - the agenda for the medical innovation conference has been finalised, I've emailed you the schedule, but you should be aware that…"_

" _Oh goody!"_ she squealed, cutting him off. The Klausman Conference for Medical Innovation and Advancement had been the highlight of her year ever since she had the genius idea to set it up 3 years ago. The finest surgeons from all specialities gather from across the world for a week's worth of speeches, demonstrations and idea sharing. Last year she even managed to get Mer over to present - although their week focused much more on tequila drinking and dancing as opposed to networking with other medical professionals.

" _Any surprises to make me aware of?"_

" _Well, as you know, Doctor Burke will be doing his presentation on the progress of the holographic heart."_

No surprises there; he had come every year. As much as it was awkward at first, Cristina had to invite him, this work was a breakthrough and the conference gave other specialities the chance to develop similar technologies. And, on a personal level it was also quite satisfying for her to show him just how well she was doing in his former role, even if that meant them having to occasionally socialise and exchange small talk.

" _Yeap."_ She said nonchalantly.

" _And Doctor Karev just confirmed today."_

" _Evil Spawn!?"_ She couldn't help but contain her excitement. She had been bugging him to come to Zurich for years. She had to admit that the boy had done good, even being shortlisted for a Harper Avery last year which he narrowly missed out on to her, obviously. He was fast becoming one of the most sought after paediatric surgeons on the west coast.

" _And, umm. Well there's one other thing. Err_." Shane only stumbled like that when he knew he was in for a Cristina Yang- style reprimand.

As he continued to babble on Cristina was distracted by another text that popped up.

 _Oooo, a winky face? Well now I'm even more excited. GPS says I'm less than 15 minutes away. ;) ;)xx_

Crap 15 minutes. She still had to jump in the shower.

" _Okay thanks Doctor Ross, have a good weekend and see you on Monday bye."_ She ended the call without giving him a chance to speak.

After the world's quickest shower she slipped on her sexiest matching underwear and threw on a comfortable but figure hugging sweater dress when she heard the doorbell go.

 _He's here._

It took all of her self-control not to sprint down the stairs. Instead she took her time, clinging on to the exciting anticipation for as long as she could. Steadying herself for a second at the front door she took several deep breaths as she caught sight of his tall shadow on the other side of the door which she slowly opened to reveal those piercing blue eyes and welcoming smile.

Standing there motionless for a while they took each other in, sizing each other up and down. It felt like an eternity before one of them spoke.

" _Hey Cristina"_

" _Hey you"_

…..

They collapsed in a heap on a living room floor, having spent the best part of two hours getting re-acquainted with each other. She should have known that tidying her room and changing the sheets was a waste of time, it was a miracle they even made it past the hallway.

They laid there for a while in comfortable silence, and she realised how much she had missed him. Right there in that moment, lying in his arms she felt absolutely content, and safe – like nothing else in the world mattered.

As if he could read her thoughts he leaned over and whispered, _"Admit it, you've missed me."_

Laughing seductively she replied, _"Well, I certainly missed this part of you…"_ as she slowly slid her hands down his body.

Before she could continue he jumped up and laughed. _"No. As much as I'd_ _ **love**_ _to go again, a man has got to refuel. You've worn me out woman, you're insatiable."_ He looked down and winked at her, making her blush. _"Let me get some food inside me and we can continue making up for the past four months."_

She pouted, _"Okay fine. While you're in there pour us some wine, I got your favourite Bordeaux from the vineyard you like so much."_

He smiled. _"Oh, you BEAUTIFUL woman. I knew I keep you around for a reason."_

As he made his way to the kitchen, she got herself settled on the sofa and draped a blanket over herself – there was zero point in putting clothes back on – and started thinking about just how much _fun_ they were going to have this weekend when her phone went off. If it were anyone else at this particular time she'd send it straight to voicemail, but that ringtone meant it could only be one person. Her person.

" _Well hello Meredith Grey."_

" _You've just had sex haven't you?"_ Meredith said as more of a statement rather than a question.

Cristina snorted, _"Err what makes you say that?"_

She could practically hear Mer rolling her eyes. _"Well firstly, I tried ringing through to your office earlier and was told you'd taken the afternoon off. Secondly, you couldn't stop banging on about your 'big reunion' coming up when we Skyped last week, and..."_

" _Oh please, I wasn't 'banging on' about-"_

" _And finally, your voice is all croaky and hoarse which means you've been screaming your lungs out."_

A beat passed and then a shout came from the kitchen.

" _Hi Meredith – this better be a short phone call, I have plans for Cristina this evening. Hope you're well."_

" _Oh, and late entry - the fact that he just spoke to me down the phone."_

Cristina paused. _"It's disturbing how well you know me sometimes. Since you clearly know my every movement and therefore know that I'm currently catching up on four months' worth of sex can I ask why are you calling me right now?"_ She asked with slight concern – they normally arranged their calls in advance, spontaneous phone calls on really happened when something was wrong.

" _I thought it would be obvious."_ Her person said with slight bewilderment. _"The finalised agenda for the conference next month. I'm not sure why you would invite him. Why did you?"_

Cristina sighed. _"Eugh, Mer we've been over this before. I don't actually have final say on who gets invited, I have a very capable staff who sorts that. Yeah, sure it was weird having Burke there the first time, but now it's fine - honestly. I can be in a room with that man and not want to bang my head against a table or roll my eyes every time he talks about reinventing surgery as we know it… Most of the time."_

" _I wasn't referring to Burke."_

" _Oh, Alex? Per-lease I'm excited about that. And if you're worried about it being awkward, it won't be. So what that I beat him to the Harper Avery last year, he'll win one soon enough. We both know that the natural order of things would have been thrown off balance if he got one before I did. We got drunk together after the ceremony and talked about…"_

" _CRISTINA!"_ Meredith cut in, sounding increasingly exasperated. _"Stop avoiding who you know I'm talking about. Please tell me why you have invited him. Why you would ever think it was a good idea to invite Owen to speak at YOUR conference…."_

Cristina went numb at the sound of his name as Meredith continued to reprimand her down the phone. She couldn't concentrate properly on what she was saying, but words like _**mistake, backsliding**_ and _**trouble**_ were mentioned more than once. As she tried to pull herself together Mer's voice came back into sharp focus.

" _Ah shoot I'm late picking up the kids from day care, I gotta go. But we are not done talking about this Cristina. I'm half tempted to fly out to Zurich to keep you two at least ten feet apart at all times. You've got Stephen now, who is pretty damn perfect for you by the way. And Owen's happy too. Please be careful."_ And with that she hung up, not knowing the bombshell she had just dropped.

She couldn't move.

 _Owen's coming? No, Mer must be mistaken. Why on earth would my ex-husband be speaking at MY medical conference. And how could I not know?_

She grabbed her tablet from the coffee table and frantically pulled up the agenda that Shane had emailed across earlier that evening. Scrolling through there it was in black and white, directly after Burke's name. The irony didn't escape her.

 **From Battlefield to ER: Major Owen Hunt, MD, F.C.A.S will be sharing the latest trauma surgery techniques from the field and how these advances can revolutionise an ER.**

Before she could even begin to start processing this, Stephen snuggled up beside her on the sofa, pulled her in close, and handed her a glass of wine.

" _Okay …"_ He planted a small kiss on the top of her head. _"Given you basically jumped my bones as soon as I arrived, why don't you fill me in on what's new with you."_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Thanks for the reviews already guys, enjoy seeing the reactions. I know you're probably disappointed that the man Cristina was waiting for wasn't Owen – but it's not a true Crowen story without a bit of angst and heartbreak. This is the first of the flashback chapters that will look into Cristina's life post GSM.**_

 **Flashback to 4 years ago.**

 _God, I'm exhausted._

Cristina slumped behind a pillar, trying to avoid the many people desperate to get her attention that evening. Being in charge of a wealthy and privately funded hospital meant that at any medical function there were always representatives from medical charities trying to tap her up for funding or grants – which she was happy to give where possible, but there was only so much ass kissing she could take in one evening. And tonight she had a shorter tolerance than normal.

She checked her phone for the hundredth time. Still no reply.

It had been a week since they buried McDreamy and now Meredith was not answering her phone. Alex had rung earlier in the day to let her know that Mer had taken off with the kids, and left Seattle without a trace. Wracked with worry and guilt, Cristina kept asking herself if she could have done more for her person. She got the first flight out of Zurich as soon as she heard the news, held her hand during the funeral, and kept the children occupied while Mer was busy being consoled by everyone.

She had offered to stay longer, as long as she was needed, but Mer was adamant that she'd be okay – and practically forced Cristina in a cab back to the airport.

 _I should have been firmer and not taken no for an answer._

Everything was uncertain now. It had been over a year since she left Seattle, and it had been an amazing year. Running this hospital, and devoting her life to printing hearts was her calling, and it felt amazing to be doing just that – she felt complete. She assumed that everyone back home would be safe and happy, and that life would continue over there as normal. But, now? Now everything was broken and uncertain, and she couldn't enjoy her new life knowing that the people she cared about more than anything were hurting so badly.

While her first thoughts were on Meredith's safety and wellbeing, her fleeting trip to Seattle had also forced her to think about Owen again. While he was always in her thoughts in some capacity, actually being in his proximity and hearing his voice again brought all those emotions to the forefront.

They didn't interact much at the funeral, which was for the best – her sole focus needed to be on Meredith. But they did have one very brief conversation as he walked in on her singing a lullaby to Zola in an attempt to get her to sleep.

…..

" _You have many talents Cristina Yang, but I must say singing was never one of them."_

She turned her head up to face him and gave a small smile. _"Shut up."_

She resisted the urge to run up to him and have his arms around her again – that would do neither of them any good. So instead she remained sat on the floor by Zola's bed and he remained standing 5 feet away.

" _So, how've you been?"_ He said softly in order not to wake the sleeping child.

" _Good… Err not now obviously."_ She said sadly. _"But, yeah I'm good – you?"_

" _Yeah, I'm good."_

They stared at each other for the longest time, both frozen to the spot – too scared to move in case of what that might lead to.

The trance was broken by the sound of Amelia Shepherd's voice calling softly down the hallway: _"Owen, where are you?"_

" _I, uhhh. I gotta go."_ He whispered nervously, with a slight look of guilt in his eyes.

Cristina smiled at him to ease the concerned look he had on his face. She had a gut feeling that there had been something going on between Owen and Derek's little sister – she could tell by the way he was looking at her during the funeral.

Just as he turned to leave she called out and stopped him in his tracks. _"Owen. I need you to promise me two things."_

He smiled nervously. _"Sure."_

She cleared her throat in attempt to stop the tears from falling out of her eyes, and rambled at quick-fire speed before she lost the courage. _"Firstly, be happy and stay safe. I know I'm not here anymore, but I need you to be okay in order for me to be okay. Everything I achieve will mean nothing to me if you're not happy."_

She could see tears forming in his eyes. She continued.

" _And second, look out for Meredith. She's strong, the strongest person I know – but her world has turned upside down and I need you to keep her safe. Keep her away from any natural disasters or life threatening situations (she's a magnet for those), don't let her stop working towards becoming the best general surgeon ever, and make sure she has someone to drink tequila and dance it out with at least once a month."_

As she composed herself, Owen took a deep breath and wiped his tears away.

" _Cristina. You are MY person. Anything that hurts you hurts me just as much if not more. I'll make Meredith my person too and protect her as if it's you. And for the record, as long as you're living and breathing and changing the face of medicine, I will always be the happiest man to have had you in my life."_

They both silently nodded at each other, taking in one last look at each other's faces. Just as he turned to walk away she heard him quietly say. _"Take care now."_

… _.._

She had replayed the memory of that conversation, and especially that last sentence over and over in her head for a week. So lost in her thoughts, it wasn't until a glass of champagne was thrust under nose that she even knew where she was.

" _Glad to know I'm not the only one hiding away. Personally I can't stand these types of functions – everyone pretending to be interested in each other's work when really it's all about the money. Since when did medicine turn into such a huge financial stress, am I right?"_

Cristina didn't look up at the man who had so rudely disturbed the only moment of peace she had all evening. Yet he continued to talk.

" _Anyways, I saw you across the room and thought to myself 'Well there looks like a person who is hating this just as much as me, how about I grab her some champagne and hopefully we can engage in some human conversation away from the vultures?' Here take this. You look like you need it."_ He placed the glass into her hand.

Cristina looked up, ready to give him an almighty Yang-style dressing down. If this was some ploy to win her over before entering into a sales pitch then she was not impressed.

The man didn't look like a vulture though – something about him seemed genuine. Normal. He must've been in his late 30s, at least six foot 2, he towered over her, but not in a threatening way. He's what people would describe as a "sunny" person. He was tanned, had sandy brown hair that was lightened by a lot of time clearly spent in the sun – and he had the brightest blue eyes that couldn't help but remind her of Owen's.

 _Stop it, stop thinking about him_. She told herself.

Anyway, she couldn't pinpoint what it was about him exactly, but she knew that this wasn't the type of guy that deserved her stoic glare and quick put-downs – she also didn't have the energy right now. So she willingly took a sip of champagne.

" _My face that obvious, huh?"_ She snorted.

He let out a small laugh. _"Kinda, yeah."_

She stuck her hand. _"I'm Doctor Yang, nice to meet you."_ She needed conversation to take her mind away from Meredith, Owen and everyone back in Seattle. If only for a brief moment.

He responded with a firm but gentle hand shake.

" _Pleasure to meet you Doctor Yang. I'm Doctor Smith, but please call me Stephen."_


	3. Chapter 3

Owen gazed down at his baby girl sleeping soundly and felt a wave of calm wash over him. It doesn't matter how stressful a day he's had, one look at his beautiful daughter was all it took to centre him – only one other person has ever managed that.

The news that he was going to be a father had taken him by complete surprise. While he had always wanted children, he had envisaged that any baby he had would have been planned, conceived in a happy marriage, and that he would find out right at the beginning as opposed to 5 months into the pregnancy. That said, he knew better by now than to expect that his plans and 'perfect' vision for his life would turn out, but now – he couldn't imagine any life other than being Francesca's dad.

As he sat down in the corner of the nursery, listening to the calming sound of the baby's breathing, he pulled out his phone and re-read the email for the thousandth time.

 _Dear Doctor Owen Hunt,_

 _On behalf of Doctor Cristina Yang, MD, PHD, and the Klausman Institute, we'd like to extend an invitation for you to speak at the third annual Conference for Medical Innovation and Advancement._

 _The work you've done to revolutionise how ERs are run is well-renowned, and something we feel that our attendees will really benefit from hearing about. You'll also receive a full pass to attend the other presentations, for the whole week. The conference is designed to bring together the brightest minds in the surgical field to foster greater innovation in the medical community._

 _If you would like to attend then please respond to this email and we will handle all of your travel and hotel arrangements._

 _Attached to this email is further information about the conference, and what we expect from our speakers. But if you have any further questions before making a decision then please do not hesitate to get in touch._

 _Sincerely,_

 _The Board of Directors, Klausman Institute_

He had accepted almost instantly, without giving it a second thought – much to his surprise. But a week since receiving the invitation he re-read the email over and over again, trying to read between the lines and decipher what exactly they meant.

 _Was it her idea to invite me? It must've been. She's a control freak and it's her hospital – she must have had a say in it?_

 _If it was her idea, why didn't she reach out to me directly? We haven't spoken to, or seen each other in years - but there's no bad blood. A formal email invitation seems odd, even for her. I know she's moved on, Meredith says she's found someone else – and he's nice. Maybe she wants to keep a respectable distance._

 _Oh god, am I going to have to see her with another man?_

So many thoughts were rushing through Owen's head that he couldn't process. He wanted her to move on and be happy. Hell, he had found happiness with Amelia, although short-lived. And now he had a child, the centre of his world. He's carried on living his life, so why shouldn't she.

Teddy poked her head around the door of the nursery.

" _Hey."_ She whispered softly. _"Our girl sound asleep?"_

He nodded.

" _Excellent. Come downstairs then and we'll get working on your Zurich presentation. I know you like to wing it, but I can't have you embarrass the Grey Sloan reputation in front of the world's medical elite."_

" _I'll be right there."_

As she headed out the room Owen couldn't help but find it funny at the weird domesticated life he and Teddy now lived. From saving lives on the battlefield in Iraq to changing diapers and living in the suburbs; they still made an excellent team.

Their friends and fellow colleagues still didn't quite get the set-up Owen and Teddy had – two friends who have a baby together, live and raise the child together but aren't an actual couple. But it worked for them. They had tried to make a go of it, to be a real couple, but they both realised quite early on that while they loved and adored each other as friends – it wasn't the same. They had both experienced true love before, and those feelings are hard to replicate.

Before heading downstairs he pulled out his phone, and listened to a voicemail he had permanently saved onto his phone. He'd only listened to it once before, but he couldn't bear to delete it – it was the last time she spoke to him after-all.

" _Hey Dr. Hunt… Owen. I'm just calling to say_ _ **congratulations**_." He could tell by the pausing and squeaky way she said congratulations that she had likely just had a few tequilas.

" _I didn't know if I should call. I mean, it would have been weird if I didn't. Wouldn't it? But then I guess you didn't tell me you were having a baby in the first place, I had to hear it from Mer. But I get why you didn't. It would be weird I guess, ringing your ex-wife to let her know you had knocked someone up."_

There was a slight pause and a small slam which he guessed was her knocking back another shot.

" _ANYWAY. Congratulations. You and Teddy will make GREAT parents. That woman has the patience of a saint. I mean, if she could handle me during residency then a kid should be easy. I was fucking difficult."_

Pause.

" _Don't tell her I admitted to that."_

He laughed, almost waking the baby. Cristina was still the most hilarious person he had ever come across – especially when her humour was unintentional.

Then her voice got a bit more serious.

" _You're going to be great. You were meant to be a father, and that kid is so lucky that she gets to call you Daddy."_

A lump formed at the back of his throat – the sincerity in her voice was unmistakable.

" _I mean it Owen. I'm happy for you."_

…..

Cristina woke to the sun streaming through her bedroom window.

Feeling around for Stephen she found his side of the bed to be empty. There was a note on his pillow.

 _It's such a beautiful morning so I've gone for a hike. I would have asked you to join me but you looked so peaceful I didn't want to wake you…. I also knew that you'd say no x_

She let out a small laugh. She still hadn't gotten used to dating an "outdoorsy" person. Both Owen and Burke enjoyed exercise and kept in good shape, but Stephen was on a completely different planet. Hiking, mountain biking, surfing – you name it he does it. Where he quite finds the energy to do all these things as well as be a surgeon completely baffled her.

In the 4 years she'd known him he'd tried countless times to get her to enjoy the great outdoors, but she wasn't having any of it - apart from the ill-fated ski weekend last year where she sprained her wrist. She only agreed because the idea of being locked away in a cabin with great sex and food on tap was too much to resist; she didn't think there would be actual skiing involved. She won't make that mistake again – she couldn't operate for two whole weeks.

Once she had properly woken up with a decent cup of coffee, it didn't take long for her mind to drift back to Owen, and the bombshell that he would be in Zurich in a month's time.

After Stephen had fallen asleep last night she just kept staring at the email, at his name. She hadn't imagined it. It was happening. She checked her phone – a voicemail from a very sheepish and nervous Dr. Ross.

" _Err Morning Dr. Yang. Ummm so by now you've probably seen the finalised agenda – and the other representative coming from Grey Sloan Memorial. I'm sure you're totally fine with it, I mean why wouldn't you be? But apparently the other trauma specialist they wanted backed out last minute so they had to make a quick replacement. No one knows that you and Dr. Hunt were married so they didn't think anything of it. I just wanted to let you know that I had NO idea. Oh and I've just come back from the hospital this morning, the prints are still all fine and still on track for Monday. Have a good weekend."_

As much as she wanted to be mad at someone, he made a very good point. If the board needed a trauma expert then they'd be hard-pressed to find a better one, and she never spoke about her personal life or her ex-husband with anyone at work, so how would they know or even think they needed to give her the heads up.

However, one thought that did puzzle her was why he had agreed to come. Did he not have any qualms about seeing her again? Was he simply OKAY with it? Cristina didn't know what she felt about Owen crossing over into her new life – but she definitely wasn't OKAY with it.

As she went to grab some fruit from the fridge her eyes went straight to the Seattle Sky Needle postcard pinned to it. It had been waiting for her on her doorstep a year ago when she returned from winning her long overdue Harper Avery award. The message wasn't signed – but she recognised that large messy handwriting anywhere.

 _I knew you'd do it. You make me proud every day. Keep going. X_

Owen Hunt had always been a man of few words. But the words he did use never failed to set her heart racing.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Flashback: Four years ago.**_

" _I can't believe THIS is where you have dragged me out to_." Cristina moaned as she took in her surroundings. The restaurant's interior could at best be described as a barn. Not to mention it was situated in between some very dodgy sex shops in Zurich's red light district.

" _Oh come on, this place is great. Look at the size of these pork ribs - you won't need to eat for days after getting through these."_ Stephen gestured at the huge pile of meat he had ordered for them.

" _Yeah, I won't be able to eat because I'm likely to get food poisoning. Did you see the state of the kitchen when we walked past?"_

" _Trust me, I've pretty much eaten at every fancy-pants restaurant in this city and nothing has come close to this place. And YOU were the one who insisted we go somewhere where you wouldn't run into anyone from the hospital… you won't run into anyone here."_

She scoffed.

" _Hey, less of the attitude please. You promised you'd let me show you the best parts of Zurich – I can't believe you've been here over a year and barely explored - and then you kept me waiting for 3 whole weeks. So I think you should drop the snark and just try the ribs."_

It's true, she had promised to let him play tour guide. But that was only after a LOT of champagne, and the fact that Stephen had been the first person she'd met here that she didn't think she'd hate socialising with.

And yes she had made him wait 3 weeks. But in between worrying about Meredith's whereabouts (Alex was calling her twice a day to see if she'd heard from here), and getting the news that Owen was heading back into a warzone to do another tour with the army, she couldn't even fathom the idea of being sociable. But now she'd finally heard from Mer, even if it was a brief text to say she was alive and well, she needed some distraction from the fact that the love of her life was putting himself in harm's way again.

So in a desperate attempt to push through she dug into the pork ribs (which were actually insanely good), and opened herself up to what turned out to be easy but interesting conversation – helped greatly by the two bottles of wine they quickly went through.

Once she'd enlightened him on everything she was working on, and her plans to revolutionise the field of cardio surgery, she thought it was only fair to quiz him about his speciality; even if it was paediatrics.

" _So, let me get this straight. You spend 4 months in Africa with Doctors without Borders treating sick children. Then come back here and work at a private practice for 3 months… and then go back again?"_

" _That's about the sum of it. That's been my routine for the past 7 years."_

" _Why Zurich as your base?"_

" _Isn't it obvious? This place is like a sea of investment, do you know how much wealth is contained in this tax haven? I love doing what I get to do out in Africa, but the money has got to come from somewhere. 3 months working for a private practice not only gives me the financial flexibility to travel, but I have the chance to schmooze and get funding from some seriously wealthy and influential people."_

She pointed at him. _"I KNEW it! That night at the gala you were totally trying to tap me up for cash."_

He laughed. " _How many times have I told you, I did not approach you looking for money; I had no idea who you were, much as that might come as a shock to you."_

She paused for a second. _"Then why did you? I was hiding behind a pillar. I clearly wasn't open for conversation."_

" _Honestly? I first approached you because I wanted to take you home."_ He stated as a matter of fact. Not irony in his voice at all.

She froze. _Shit, is this a date?_ The idea had never even crossed her mind. Sure, he was attractive – but a DATE. _I'm not ready to start dating again. Oh god have I given him the wrong impression by allowing him to take me out?_

Her expression must have been so easily readable as he chose to elaborate further _. "Oh relax – I don't think that now. That's the furthest thing from my mind."_

She narrowed her eyes. _Well, that was kinda rude._ He kept talking, very dead pan.

" _Don't be offended. You're a VERY attractive woman, and I'm sure we'd have had an unforgettable night together… but after we got to drinking and talking I actually found myself enjoying your company. I don't click with many people, and friends are hard to find in our line of work – so the last thing I'd want to do is ruin that by breaking your heart with a meaningless one night stand, however earth-shatteringly amazing I'm sure it would be."_

Cristina felt an overwhelming sense of relief.

" _Wow, you really don't hold back do you?"_

" _Nope. I don't see the point in ever being anything but honest – avoids things getting messy."_

" _I happen to agree. And I'm SO relieved you don't want to get into my pants – because I definitely do not want to get into yours."_ She let out a genuine laugh.

He raised his glass and smiled. _"Well here's to that. And here's to the start of a beautiful, but passive aggressive friendship. Now wipe your face, you're covered in BBQ sauce."_

…..

 _ **18 months later.**_

" _It's so good to see your face."_ Cristina squealed as Meredith popped up on the screen. Since she returned from being MIA six months ago, their fortnightly Skype sessions became even more precious.

It took her less than a second to recognise Mer was in a crappy mood.

" _Is it? Because we were supposed to Skype yesterday and you blew me off. And not for the first time."_

" _Oh Mer I'm sorry. Genuinely. But Stephen just got back yesterday, and he promised to show me case files of all these super rare heart conditions his team had worked on. They were so fascinating Mer, honestly these are conditions that we'd never see in the west – let alone treat."_

Meredith raised an eyebrow and Cristina knew exactly where the conversation was headed.

" _So that's really why you're spending so much time with him?... The case files?"_

" _Oh good god Mer, how many more times? There's nothing else going on, if there was I'd tell you."_ She said, slightly fed up that this had come up in conversation yet again.

" _So you're definitely not sleeping with him?"_

" _Definitely not. There's plenty of business men travelling through this city that can scratch that particular itch for me with no strings attached. Stephen is a just a friend. He's a great surgeon; he's funny and painfully blunt and honest. Now that I think about it he's just like you, except he's not dark and twisty - he's one of those annoying glass is half full people. But ya know, he disappears every couple of months so he's not here long enough for me to find it irritating."_

" _Okay, if you say so."_ Meredith said a little too sarcastically for Cristina's liking. It was bad enough that Shane had made the occasional smutty comment about her new BFF. That boy was getting too comfortable around her.

" _Yes I do say so. Now can you please update me on what's going on with you?"_

After 2 hours of gossiping and trading surgical stories they were both ready to call it a night when Meredith pulled her serious dark premonition face. The face that she knew Meredith only pulled when she was about to deliver bad news.

" _What is it Mer?"_

" _Umm, I've been debating whether to tell you this. But if it were me I'd want to know."_

Cristina instinctively knew where this was headed.

" _It's happened really fast which is why I haven't told you sooner, but next week Owen and Amelia are,"_

" _Mer, please stop!"_ She interjected, before taking a deep breath to centre herself before continuing calmly.

" _I don't want to know. And don't worry I'm not still pining after him. I've worked SO hard to put him to the back of my mind. I want him to be happy, truly. She put her hand on her heart and had to compose herself. But I don't want to know the details. Knowing the details of his life will force me to think about him again. He'll become a real person to me again… and I can't do that to myself."_

Meredith gave a warm and knowing smile.

" _Okay then. Until next time….unless you stand me up for your new bestie again."_


	5. Chapter 5

**Thanks for the reviews so far guys. This is the last of the flashback chapters before I fly Owen (and Karev) out to Zurich in the next chapter. I know we all want some more Crowen moments, but I thought it was important to build up to it and show how in the past 5 years Cristina has slowly been trying to move on.**

 _ **Flashback: 2 years ago.**_

" _So let me get this straight. You were engaged to Preston Burke? THE Preston Burke."_ Stephen exclaimed while pouring them both another glass of wine to celebrate the success of the first Innovation Conference Cristina had organised.

" _Yup. Very long time ago, it's not a big deal."_ She sighed, taking a large sip of red wine.

" _What happened?"_

She shrugged her shoulders. _"Meh, long story involving hand tremors, bombs in body cavities, me losing my eyebrows and being left at the altar."_

He snorted. _"Why do I get the feeling you're not joking?"_

" _Because I'm not."_

Somehow Stephen was not surprised, he felt like he was constantly finding things out about Cristina. It was only a few weeks ago she'd casually mentioned the fact she was in a plane crash.

" _Huh, well you're going to need to elaborate. We've been friends for two years… you've spoken of nothing else except this conference for weeks, and it never even came up. I saw you both together and you do a damn good job of acting like there's no history there."_

" _Okay firstly, I am not going to elaborate. Secondly, like I said it was a very long time ago so anything that was there has long since disappeared. Do I enjoy his company? No, he's the same egotistical arrogant bastard he always was. But I'm mature now; I can tolerate it in small doses."_

She took another large sip of wine.

" _And finally, I never told you because I like to keep my skeletons well and truly buried in my closet, thank you."_

His eyes widened. _"Skeletons? Plural? Oh don't tell me there's more."_

" _Nope, that's all you're getting out of me. Just because you have no deep dark secrets, doesn't mean you can get excited about mine, Mr. Perfect."_

" _did you just call me?"_

She let out a small, albeit infectious laugh. _"That's what Mer calls you. But it's pretty accurate. I mean, you spend your life dedicated to helping sick children in poor countries, you manage to charm everyone you meet - you even managed to win Meredith over when she came to visit me, you enjoy cooking, and not to mention you're basically action man with all of the outdoor activities you throw yourself into. And you're not in the least bit dark and twisty like I am."_

He let out a small confused laugh. _"You say these things like they're an insult."_

She shrieked, no doubt a result of too much wine. _"It IS irritating. It's a good job you're heading back to Africa tomorrow. There's only so much Mr Perfect I can take. Eugh I bet you were a jock in high school, was elected prom king blah blah blah.."_

" _Ok, I definitely was not prom king. And I am definitely not perfect."_

She mocked. " _Ooo, false modesty as well. Of course you are."_

" _Seriously, Cristina. Enough. I'm not perfect. I have some dark and twisty in me."_ He said, all of a sudden getting quieter.

" _Oh really? Like what exactly?"_

Stephen didn't know what it was about this particular moment, what it was about Cristina Yang – but what followed was the secret he always thought he'd never reveal to anyone.

" _I have a 20 year old son."_

He saw Cristina's eyes widen in confusion and shock. So he simply continued. Slowly, and steadily.

" _When I was 17 I got my high school girlfriend pregnant."_

" _We found out too late so a termination was out of the question... And for the longest time we considered trying to make it work. And so I began to imagine a different life for myself, and resigned myself to it. But we were kidding ourselves. We didn't grow up in a great neighbourhood, college would have been out of the question – and so was any hope of providing the type of life we'd want to give our child."_

" _So when he was born we put him up for adoption. We picked a great couple from Ohio; the Dad was a high school principal and the Mom was an artist. They had this great big house in the suburbs with a backyard, with friends and family all close by. That's the life we wanted for him to have. So, as hard as it was, I don't regret it for a second. Ever since then I've knuckled down, worked my ass off to get to where I am today, and only fill my life with things I want to do. I owe it to him, and myself to know that I didn't give him up in vain."_

Stephen looked up at Cristina, trying to gauge what she must be feeling right now. If she was horrified by what she heard, she didn't show it. He could see warmth in her eyes that he had never noticed before, compassion even.

" _Is that why you went into paediatrics?"_ She asked softly after what felt like an eternity of silence.

He let out a tiny laugh. Trust her to bring it all back to the medicine. _"Yeah. Henry, that's his name by the way, was lucky enough to be born healthy and have a family who really wanted him. There's too many kids out there who don't have that and so I thought I could make a difference by trying to make some of them better."_

She asked more questions. Never averting his gaze, but in a way that made him feel safe and comfortable.

" _Have you ever thought about tracking him down?"_

" _No. I got a letter from his parents when he turned 18 to let us know that he's happy, healthy and had just received a sports scholarship to college, and that's enough for me - to know he's happy and living the life I wanted him to have. If he ever wanted to reach out then I am wide open to that. But that's his decision to make, not mine."_

" _Do you want kids in the future?"_

" _No. Never. As much as I know I made the right decision, if I ever were to have any more children I don't think I could cope with the guilt of knowing I chose to keep them when I couldn't keep him."_

He took a huge gulp of wine, draining the rest of his glass. _"See, not perfect."_

" _I had an abortion."_ Cristina stated, just like that.

" _I had an abortion, and it ruined my marriage_." She continued in the same nonchalant tone, trying to be as casual as if she were simply telling him about her day.

Stephen had always been curious about what happened between Cristina and her ex-husband ever since seeing a wedding photo in her office. She never spoke about him, but he did find it weird that she'd keep their wedding photo so close – most divorced people typically don't like those sorts of reminders.

" _Nobody understood the simple fact that I didn't want to be a mother. Everyone I knew kept trying to talk me round, thinking there must be a deeper reason for my decision. There were those who assumed it was because I was obsessed with my career. Not true. Of course my career is my life, but you can still be a great mother. Callie, Bailey, Meredith are smashing it on both fronts."_

" _Then there were those who believed me to be this weird emotionless robot who hates children. Again, not true. While I don't want to be around them all the time, I don't hate children. I adore my godchildren so much."_

He smiled, recalling a night a year ago when she got tipsy and started showing him photos of Zola, Bailey and Sofia. It was the first time he saw a softer side to her.

" _And then there were those who kept trying to tell me that I was just scared I'd be a bad mother. I'm not exactly the maternal type, but I'm sure I would love a child if I had one."_ Her voice wavered ever so slightly, but she continued – obviously she had been in just as much need to open up as he had.

" _I can't tell you how FRUSTRATING it was that no one got it; this ludicrous notion that a woman could not want to pro-create. However I could deal with that. But what I couldn't deal with, was the one person in I needed and wanted to understand me just couldn't. I delayed the abortion for a few weeks in the hope I could feel different. I went to bed every night wishing and hoping so hard that I'd wake up with the desire to have this baby for him. But I didn't."_

They sat there for a while in silence. Then out of nowhere Cristina bolted up and grabbed her iPod from the coffee table.

" _Right, stand up. Now."_ She commanded.

" _Err what?"_

" _Things got a bit too deep there Doctor Smith. So you know what we need to do now? ….We gotta dance it out."_

…

After a solid half an hour of dancing it out they collapsed in a heap on the sofa, gasping for breath.

As they returned back down to earth, both could feel something different in the energy between them. Something charged, and new – so much so that Cristina did not flinch when he reached over and softly stroked her hair.

" _For the record Cristina, I've never thought you were dark and twisty."_

" _Thanks."_ She smiled sadly. _" And I've never thought you were perfect. Irritating, sure."_ She reached out to grab his hand.

" _I think we're crossing a line Doctor Yang."_

" _Yeah, we are."_

… _.._

They made love slowly at first. Taking their time to drink each other in and discover the other's pleasure points. But then it became increasingly frantic, and hungry, as if they had both been bottling this up for a long time.

As she reached closer and closer to climax, it struck Cristina how easy and natural this felt. She'd had a few flings since leaving Seattle, after all she was a woman with needs, but none had come close to bringing her to full satisfaction.

Just at that moment where she felt herself getting closer, Stephen gently bit her lower lip, slid his thumb down between them to her throbbing clit did she felt herself let go.

It wasn't until hours later, when Stephen was sound asleep, did thoughts of Owen creep into her head.

The connection she had with her ex-husband was impossible to describe, and no one understood it but them – especially in the later stages of their relationship. Mer had constantly chastised her, and reprimanded her for hiding behind sex. _"Are you two talking at least, or is it just sex. You can't keep doing this Cristina, you two don't communicate. You turn into a horny teenager whenever he's around."_

She couldn't deny that there was an element of truth in those words; yes the sex was that good that they couldn't keep their hands of each other. But it was more than that. When her and Owen made love it was a chance for them to just be those two people who fell in love when he pulled out her icicle, the people who made each other feel safe and at home despite all the terror and carnage around them. When they had sex it was a chance to temporarily forget about plane crashes, lawsuits, abortions and the fact they wanted different things. In those moments they could simply be Cristina and Owen, desperately trying to cling onto the dream that their love would be enough.

Since him, for sex to be truly good it had to be more than just a physical act for her; the ill-advised attempts at stress relief with Dr Parker and Shane had taught her that much. So she had resigned herself to the fact that she would probably never have that feeling again.

Yet here she was, in the arms of another man with whom she'd just had a mind blowing experience. It wasn't awkward. She wasn't in a rush for him to leave. And, much to her surprise she found herself looking forward to experiencing that again.

It was with that thought she felt a single tear escape down her cheek, and she had to take a deep breath to stop other ones from falling. The swell of emotion took her by surprise – it was a mixture of relief and hope that she'd been able to connect with someone else, but also pure sadness and grief that she had just lost a precious connection with Owen Hunt for good.

….

Hours later Cristina awoke to the smell of freshly roasted coffee slowly opening her eyes to see Stephen fully clothed and perched on the side of her bed. _Well I guess that really did happen._ She told herself.

" _Hey."_ He said with a shy smile.

" _Hey, yourself."_

" _So, on a scale of one to ten how much are you freaking out right now?"_ He asked in an attempt to diffuse any awkwardness between them.

" _Oh, I'm at a solid ten."_

" _Yeah me too"_ He paused for a second, looking at her inquisitively. _"I don't regret it though."_

Cristina let the faintest of smiles creep across her face. _"Me neither… What time's your flight?"_

" _I have a cab picking me up in half an hour."_ He suddenly moved closer towards her. Gently lifting her to she was sat upright. " _Look, Cristina. I didn't plan this. I mean, of course I'd be lying if I said that I hadn't imagined doing.. you know, with you. But whenever those fantasies played out in my head, I never thought it would happen the night before I left the country again. I don't want you to think that I would just.."_

" _Stop, it's okay. You don't have to worry about me getting all clingy an emotional just because you have your wicked way with me and then flee the country."_ She laughed.

He didn't let the laughter stop him from trying to be serious. _"Good. Because I want you to know how much I value having you as a person in my life. You're my sanity here in Zurich, and I don't want to lose that. But as much as I don't want things to change, we both know that last night we felt something. What exactly that is, I don't know – it's too early to tell. But if you're open to it, I'd like us to explore what that could be."_

Cristina paused for a moment to drink from her coffee, taking in everything he had just said.

" _Maybe it's a good thing you're going away for a few months."_ She said bluntly.

Initial disappointment crossed his face, before she continued, and he then understood what she was getting at.

" _You're right, I don't want things to change either. So why don't we treat the next few months as a time to reflect on what it is we want. We'll both be focused on our work, and without sex clouding our judgement by the time you get back we'll know if we want to remain friends, or.."_

" _Or if we want something more."_ He added.

" _Exactly."_

He pulled her closer so she could straddle his lap. _"YOU are a very smart woman Doctor Yang."_

" _Oh,I know."_ She gave him a wicked smile. _"Now didn't you say you still had 30 minutes before you had to leave?"_


	6. Chapter 6

_This is going to be a long flight_. Alex thought to himself.

The plane hadn't even taken off yet, and Owen was already bugging the crap out of him – acting all jittery, not being able to sit still, constantly trying to get his attention and start a conversation.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what was bugging him, but as much as Alex really did not want to have that conversation, the constant twitching from Owen Hunt was extremely irritating.

" _Dude, just spit it out already."_

" _Err I don't know what you're talking about."_ Owen feigned confusion.

" _Mate, you keep staring at me then turning away, and trying to start a conversation then staling. So, you're either coming on to me or you need to get something off your chest. It's a long flight to Zurich so please just spit it out."_

Owen did have a lot to get off his chest, and so many questions that he didn't know where to start – but he wasn't sure that Karev was the right candidate to help him make sense of what was going on in his head.

He tried to turn the attention to work.

" _So how are you feeling about your presentation? I was up most of the night running it through with Teddy; I think mine's okay but I'm wondering if I should have used more visual aids. What do you think?"_

Karev rounded on him and just came out with it.

" _Cut the crap man. You wanna talk about Yang, and normally I'd totally shut that down, but the only thing more annoying than having that discussion with you is having to cope with you acting all shifty for the entirety of this flight. So in a one-time only offer I'm going to be Meredith for a second and be someone you can talk to."_

" _Is it that obvious?"_ Owen chuckled.

Alex just stared at him.

" _Okay then… How is she? Since you last saw her I mean. She good?"_

" _She's spearheading a ground-breaking clinical trial, she won a Harper Avery, and she can summon any world class surgeon to Zurich at the click of her fingers. She's good_." Alex knew he was digging for deeper details, but Hunt was going to have to be a bit more specific. He did not want to get personal if he could help it.

" _How was she when you saw her at the ceremony?"_ Owen continued with the vague questions.

" _She was good."_ Alex replied casually, turning his attention to the in-flight magazine.

" _And she's enjoying life in Zurich?"_

" _Yeap."_

Owen huffed. _"Wow, you're really good at this talking thing."_

Karev rolled his eyes and took a deep breath. _"Dude, stop dancing around the questions you actually want to ask me – and just get on with it."_ He caught the attention of a passing flight attendant. _"Hi, I know we haven't taken off yet – but as soon as we do if you could bring us two large scotch's that would be very much appreciated."_

" _Okay"_ Owen paused for a second. _"I was just curious about… I mean Meredith had mentioned that she had met… That there was someone. And I was just intrigued about –"_

" _His name is Stephen Smith."_ Alex said with as much patience that he could muster. _"He's a Paediatric surgeon who works for Doctors without Borders – he's actually looked after a lot of my African patients, following up with them after they've left the States. I met him at the award ceremony last year; he seems like a decent enough guy."_

Owen sat there for a minute, taking all of this in; hearing his name and occupation made him a real person.

" _Any more questions_?" Karev said, hoping that would be end of it – but knowing full well that it wouldn't be.

" _Do they live together?"_

" _I don't know."_

" _Is it serious?"_

" _I don't know. I guess so if he was at the Harper Avery awards."_

" _Will he be there at the conference?"_

" _I don't know."_

" _You don't know much do you Karev_?" Owen stifled a small laugh. _"I thought you guys kept in touch regularly."_

" _We do. But since when have you known me and Yang to be the types talk to each other about our personal lives. We hardly sit on the phone for hours talking about relationships and mushy stuff."_

Owen nodded.

" _Sorry Karev. I'm not trying to pry. I'm glad she's happy, it's just weird ya know? Like imagine if you got an invitation out of the blue from Stevens. It's confusing. I mean, we ended on good terms but she's still my ex-wife. I should be glad that we're in a place where she felt she could invite me – but don't you think it's weird that I got a formal invitation and she didn't reach out to me personally?"_

 _Where the hell is my Scotch?_ Alex thought to himself. Anything to numb the pain of this conversation.

"… _And Burke is going to be there too. I'm not gonna lie, it's going to be very strange to be in the same room as that man. I bet she's freaking out about us coming face to face with each other. I wonder if she's told Stephen about me and Burke, and how he feels about having the ex-husband and ex-fiancé in the same place…"_

Owen's stream of thought showed no signs of coming to an end any time soon so Karev sat back and braced himself for what was indeed going to be a VERY long flight. Checking his phone one last time before take-off he saw a text from Meredith:

 _Have a safe flight, and kick ass at the conference. Oh, and you HAVE to prevent Owen and Cristina from sleeping together. I mean it Alex, do not leave them alone._

Alex let out a small sigh that went unnoticed by Owen. _Jeez Mer, way to set an impossible task._


	7. Chapter 7

The place was abuzz with excitement.

Cristina looked out of her office window down at the steady stream of world-class surgeons arriving below. The event always kicked off with a glamorous black-tie dinner, followed by party with free flowing champagne.

She hadn't seen him arrive yet. Karev had text her 5 hours ago to let her know they had arrived safely and were checked into their hotel. The suspense was killing her as she kept a razor sharp eye on the attendees below. She didn't know how she would react seeing Owen, she had played out many scenarios in her head and rehearsed how she would act, what she would say – but the last thing she wanted was to run into him unexpectedly; she had to be prepared.

She felt arms wrap around her from behind, catching her off-guard. She jerked away without even thinking about it.

" _Babe, it's only me. Calm down."_ Stephen whispered, turning her to face him.

" _I am perfectly calm thank you."_ She barked. _"You just scared me that's all. What are you doing here anyway? You know the rule."_

He rolled his eyes in jest, even though she clearly was not in the mood. " _I know, I know – no inappropriate activity in your office. Spoilsport. I simply wanted to grab 5 precious minutes with my girlfriend before all this madness kicks off; you're always in such demand for the whole week."_

She softened slightly. _"I know, I'm sorry. I didn't get much sleep last night. I just want everything to be perfect."_

He pulled her into his arms, she didn't resist this time, and rested his forehead on hers.

" _I know, you were restless all night."_ He planted a light kiss on the top of her heart and took a deep breath, taking in the scent of her hair before saying something he had been meaning to for a month now. _"And it's okay to be nervous about seeing him again."_

She froze in his arms. _"What do you mean?"_

" _I know you haven't spoken about it with me, and that's fine I don't expect you to – but you're about to come face to face with your ex-husband. That would be a head-fuck for anyone, let alone for someone who was about to host the most hotly anticipated medical event of the year."_

She remained silent. It's true, she had actively avoided talking about it with him. She had mentioned that he was coming out of courtesy, but how could she talk about her feelings about it when she wasn't entirely sure what they were herself?

" _You look beautiful by the way."_ He purred, gently caressing the small of her back _._

She let out a small smile. _"I know."_ She leaned up to kiss him gently.

She'd never admit it, but she had never had so much thought go into her appearance before. Initially she had planned to wear red until thinking against it. _No, that's the colour I got married in._ So she settled on a deep green, backless number. Earlier in the evening she'd spent ages styling her hair in an elaborate up-do before realising it would expose the back of her neck. _He always loved the back of my neck._ So she opted to wear it down and straightened.

As she felt the kiss with Stephen deepen she pulled away. She couldn't be intimate with him, not now, not when every thought she had today kept leading back to Owen.

She steadied herself. _"Yeah, I guess I am nervous – a little… Are you okay? Not many men would be happy with the prospect of potentially meeting the ex-husband… AND an ex-fiancé. Oh god."_

He laughed and lightly cupped her face. _"I'm good, honestly. At the end of the day of the day I'm the one who gets to take you home."_ He winked playfully.

Truthfully, Stephen was very apprehensive about the week ahead. But he knew it would do Cristina no good to admit it. If there was one thing she didn't need right now it was another man causing her grief. Sensing she needed a minute before the madness began he made his way out of her office.

" _See you on the other side Doctor Yang."_

" _Yeah, see you down there."_

As Stephen left the room, Cristina turned back around to the window. Closing her eyes she took several deep breaths and stated out loud.

" _You are a world-renowned cardiothoracic surgeon."_

" _You are Cristina Yang. You will not be distracted by a man."_

" _It's just a week and then it will be over. You might not even see him."_

As she opened her eyes and gazed to the arrivals below she was automatically drawn to a familiar face below. She was several stories up, but she'd recognise him from miles away.

Her breath shortened and her heart started pounding as he looked up at her – as if he instinctively knew she was there – and she became lost in those piercing blue eyes.

" _Oh crap."_


	8. Chapter 8

**Thank you for all the reviews everyone, it means a lot and I hope you're enjoying it as much as I am enjoying writing it.**

 **This has been my favourite chapter to write so far, I hope you enjoy it. Sprinklings of Meredith, Crowen, Karev… Have tried to add in some humour too.**

…..

Before Cristina could completely freak out, her attention was immediately pulled by Jenna Freeman striding into her office, without knocking.

" _Good evening Doctor Yang, I must say you're looking fantastic. Are you feeling fantastic? It's going to be a wonderful evening."_

Jenna was the institute's very perky and very irritating marketing and events co-ordinator. In many ways she reminded Cristina of April Kepner. She even had a very similar high-pitched voice, which Cristina was certain had to be fake. On many occasions she had even called Jenna "Kepner" without noticing. She totally would have fired her if she weren't so damn efficient at her job.

" _Yeah, fantastic."_ She retorted.

Jenna continued in her ever-cheery manner; she knew Doctor Yang was never one for cheeriness.

" _So, everyone is pretty much seated now – the last stragglers are arriving so you should head down soon. Now, just as a reminder – you'll sit down for the three course meal first, and then you'll be called up on stage for your welcome speech."_

Cristina nodded unenthusiastically. They had gone over this ten times already.

" _Yeap, understood – just like the past 2 years. Oh – you haven't told me who I'm sat with yet. Which table am I on?"_

Jenna promptly handed her a piece of paper with the seating plan on it. As Cristina saw her table her blood ran cold.

 **Table 1**

 _ **Dr Cristina Yang**_

 _ **Dr Shane Ross**_

 _ **Dr Preston Burke**_

 _ **Dr Alex Karev**_

 _ **Dr Owen Hunt**_

 _ **Dr Stephen Smith**_

" _Surprise!"_ Jenna squealed, mistaking Cristina's look of horror as one of pleasant shock.

" _What. The. Hell?"_

Jenna still did not recognise that this was not a welcome surprise. _"It came to my knowledge that there were going to be several Doctors that had worked at Grey Sloan Memorial with you, and I thought it would be nice for you to all get a chance to sit together and catch up."_

 _Shoot me now_ , Cristina thought to herself – that surely would be more pleasant than this scenario. She re-read the list over and over and over again in the hopes it would magically change.

" _Why is Dr Smith on this table? He's never worked at GSM"_

Jenna let out another smile, clearly very proud of her "genius" seating plan. _"Well, there was an extra seat on your table and my research found that both he and Dr Karev have worked on a lot of the same patients from Africa so it seemed like a good fit."_

She stood there motionless for a minute, with Jenna staring at her expectantly – waiting for some kind of reaction. Cristina had to get out of this. Of all the scenarios she had prepared for this week, this had never even occurred to her. She had to think, and fast.

" _This is indeed a nice surprise Kepner, I mean Jenna, you've out done yourself_." She said as calmly as she possibly could, not wanting to give anything away. _"…But I don't think this will work."_

" _Why?"_

She paused again, thinking. _"Well… this is an important networking opportunity. There are lots of very important people here this evening so as much as I'd love to socialise and catch up with old colleagues – it's probably more appropriate for me to be seated elsewhere."_

Jenna seemed to buy that excuse, not that it was going to change anything. _"I totally see where you're coming from Dr Yang. But no need to worry, there is a board member sat on every table so we're covered. And there'll be plenty of time to network afterwards."_

" _But,"_

" _Not buts Dr Yang, it's all handled… Besides, even if there was still time to change the seating plan I couldn't. Do you know how difficult it's been to balance the tables correctly?_ _ **SO MANY**_ _surgeons have issues or past histories with each other that it's been neigh on impossible to try and avoid any awkward confrontations. Did you know that Dr Ladbrookes has an ex-wife AND an ex-girlfriend attending this week? Talk about awkward"_

 _Oh, how fucking ironic. But at least Dr Ladbrookes has been spared_. Cristina felt her heart rate rapidly increase.

" _Okay, well everyone has pretty much been seated and first course is served in ten minutes- so see you down there."_ Jenna skipped out of the room.

…..

" _I KNEW I'd be hearing from you today. What's happened? You have ten minutes before my next surgery."_

Not even the sight of Meredith's face could calm Cristina down. Not knowing quite how to explain the farce that was about to happen she simply help up the seating plan to the web-cam.

" _ **OH".**_ Meredith looked like she was struggling to contain laughter.

" _Don't just say Oh!"_ Cristina's voice became increasingly high-pitched and rapid. _"This is my actual nightmare Mer. What the hell am I supposed to do? I can't not go down there, but I can't go down there. Maybe I'll fake an illness. Something serious and sudden – give me ideas. Anything. Help."_

Meredith managed to calm her laughing temporarily. _"Okay Cristina calm down. It's not ideal, but you have to go down there. It will be worse if you don't. It will all be fine I assure you."_

" _Oh really?"_ She retorted sarcastically. _"How do you know that? When was the last time you sat around a dinner table with 3 men that you've had sex with and expected to make polite conversation?"_

" _Four."_ Meredith deadpanned.

" _What?"_

" _Technically you've slept with four of the men around that table if you include Shane."_ She went back to giggling uncontrollably. _"Why don't you jump Alex's bones and make it a full house? Then they'd all have something to talk about – a common experience."_

" _Jeeez Meredith. I am this close to jumping out of the window. Can we please save the 'Cristina is a slut' jokes for another time?!"_

Meredith calmed herself again. Clearly it wasn't the time for humour – as funny as it was.

" _Okay, I'm sorry. Take some deep breathes and calm down – you've got this. Cristina, if there's one thing you are a master at then its avoidance. I've never known anyone to dodge and avoid the obvious more than you. So just avoid. Be polite, keep the conversation on the medicine. Talk about how good the food is."_

" _I can do this."_ She repeated out loud. " _Errr Mer it's gonna suck so bad."_

Her person smiled back at her. _"I know, but you're not going to be doing it alone, you have someone in your corner."_ She pulled out her phone.

" _What are you doing?"_

" _I'm texting Alex. Given I can't be there, he's taking over my role as your person. He's been briefed to keep you away from Owen, so now I'm texting him to keep the conversation on the table moving."_

" _Thank you."_ She sighed _. "Errr.. wait, what? You've ordered Evil Spawn to_ _ **baby-sit**_ _me?"_

" _Yes. Well specifically to prevent you and Owen from falling into old habits."_

" _I do not need Karev's help in keeping my pants on thank you very much."_

Meredith arched her eyebrow, _"Well missy, judging by the predicament you're in right now - I think you do."_

Cristina allowed herself to laugh at that. She bid farewell to Meredith and carefully plucked up the courage to make her way downstairs.

….

The grand hall looked magical; transformed with thousands of candles and fresh flowers on every table. The atmosphere was electric.

Cristina slowly made her way through the crowds of people to her table, occasionally pausing to say hello to random Doctors on her way.

Her heart rate was increasing with every step she took, until she laid eyes on her table – and just for a second everything went numb and she could have sworn that her heart stopped beating and she took in the people before her.

Burke and Shane were in deep conversation and barely recognised her arrive; Shane always turned into such a fan-boy when he was around Burke. Cristina had been worried on more than one occasion that Sharky would leave her to go and work for him.

Stephen smiled at her warmly, and shot her a playful wink – as if he were telling her: _It's going to be okay._

On the other hand, Karev's face was bright red and he looked like he was trying very hard not to burst into uncontrollable laughter at the situation his friend was in. Still, she found his presence to be extremely calming.

She could feel Owen's eyes on her, it was like a burning sensation - but she couldn't bring herself to meet his gaze so she proceeded to make her way around the table and make pleasantries. She saw that she was sat in between Shane and Stephen.

 _I guess that's the best scenario._

 _Oh crap Owen is going to be directly opposite me._

 _You're going to have to look directly at him._

 _Okay, deep breaths._

She made her way around the table in a clockwise direction. After patting Shane on the back (she did see him everyday) she shook hands politely with Burke, as they had done on every other occasion in the past few years. They nodded at each other.

" _Dr Burke."_

" _Dr Yang – always a pleasure."_

She approached Owen, psyching herself up to look into those eyes again. Just being in his presence was having all kind of effects on her physiology, and her thoughts were racing at a million miles an hour.

 _Do I shake his hand?_

 _Do we do the kiss on the cheek thing?_

 _What do I say?_

 _Oh god Cristina, pull yourself together._

Thankfully Owen took the lead while she was busy having an internal freak out – by grabbing her shoulders firmly yet tenderly, and planting a soft kiss on either cheek.

Cristina felt a surge of electricity run through her body. Their first physical contact in 5 years, and he still had the ability to wake up all of her senses with the lightest touch. As she looked up into his eyes she could tell he was thinking the exact same thing.

He gave his warmest smile. _"Hello Doctor Yang, it's good to see you."_

That voice could still melt her. She smiled back. _"Hello Doctor Hunt, good to see you to."_

Who knows how long she would have looked into those eyes if it hadn't been for Karev grabbing her arm and pulling her into the most over the top hug. He spun her around with such force that her feet left the floor. This was very anti-Alex behaviour, but she knew what he was doing – and she was grateful.

" _Yang! SO good to see you pal – it's been too long."_ He said as he set her back down on the ground and gave her a lighter hug.

" _Too much?"_ He whispered, barely audible.

" _A tad,"_ she replied. _"But thank you."_

She made her way to Stephen who very gentlemanly pulled out her chair for her. As she sat down, the temptation to mark his territory was clearly too hard to resist and he pulled her face towards his to give her a brief, but very firm and passionate kiss on the lips – taking her by slight surprise.

Her eyes caught Owen's immediately after and she became consumed with guilt that she could not account for.

 _Do not feel guilty. He has a child for god's sake. He's already been married again. You don't belong to him anymore, and he does not belong to you._

After the wine was poured out everyone sat there, waiting for the first person to speak. Cristina guessed that as the host she should really initiate the conversation – but she had lost the ability to string a coherent sentence together.

And then, just at the point where it could have transcended into awkward silence Karev cleared his throat and took it upon himself to break the ice.

" _So, this could be a very awkward couple of hours – so let's confront the elephant in the room early on shall we?..."_

She panicked and shot him a worried look. She thought he had been instructed by Meredith to divert any awkward situations.

"… _.Can we just admit now that Yang robbed me of the Harper Avery award last year_?" He finished with a smile and winked at Cristina in a way that told her. _I've got your back girl._

As the table broke into gentle laughter and started quizzing Alex about the next phase of his research Cristina thought that right in this very moment Alex Karev had to be her favourite person on the planet.

 _Thank GOD for Evil Spawn._


	9. Chapter 9

" _Well Doctor Karev, you've certainly come a long way from the young intern who completely froze when it came to the heart in an elevator incident. After witnessing that poor show I never would have thought that you'd ever come close to a Harper Avery."_ Burke said in his typical cool, calm but slightly condescending manner.

Alex continued to tuck into his dessert and bit back _. "Well I'll take that as a compliment sir, not that it was meant in that way."_

" _Am I right in thinking heart in an elevator was O'Malley's save_?" Owen quickly interjected, trying to turn the conversation away from insulting Karev. He was very much aware that he was the only person Cristina was comfortable around at this particular time. The last thing she needed was Karev getting wound up by Preston Burke; he'd only met the man an hour ago but Cristina had certainly not exaggerated his arrogance.

" _Indeed it was. You knew O'Malley, Doctor Hunt_?" Burke glanced in his direction, the first time he had acknowledged his presence that evening.

" _I did."_ Owen smiled, remembering his former protégée fondly. _"He was extremely gifted. He would have made a damn fine Trauma surgeon."_

" _Really? Trauma?"_ Burke scoffed, leaving Cristina no choice but to interject – she knew exactly where this was headed.

" _Yes, Trauma. George showed a real skill for Trauma surgery, it was like he'd found his calling_." She let out a sad smile and caught Owen's eye for a brief second.

Burke let out a weird noise. _"Interesting. I always thought that someone with George's skill level would have gone towards a more advanced speciality."_

Owen attempted to keep his voice cheery. _"Oh trust me Doctor Burke, you need a lot of advanced skill for Trauma."_

" _Of course Doctor Hunt. What I mean is, someone of his talent level would have been perfect for something like Neuro, or Cardio – like Cristina. It just seems like a waste of his talent."_ He was digging for a reaction.

Cristina shot Owen a quick look to prevent him from reacting. It clearly worked as one look into her eyes immediately calmed him down.

" _Every surgical speciality is vital Burke, you know that. You and I can only get to work our magic on the heart because the Trauma guy gets there first and keep them alive_." She said coolly, earning a very warm smile from Owen across the table.

She continued, keeping her voice as cheery as she could manage. _"And besides, Trauma guys have to stare into the absolute worst cases and just deal with it. They can't just run away and bail at the first sign of difficulty – don't you agree Doctor Burke?"_

She smiled sweetly at Preston, watching his smug attitude slowly fade away. It was still fun to prod him, even at the expense of their failed wedding.

" _Would anyone like some more wine?"_ Stephen piped up and started to top up everyone's glasses, desperate for any change in the conversation.

Cristina felt her phone vibrate. She glanced down to check as it was probably a text from Meredith. Except it wasn't.

 _Nice zinger there Yang. Glad to see Zurich hasn't changed you in the slightest. O xx_

She glanced up and saw Owen grinning like a naughty school boy from across the table. She couldn't help but let out a small laugh.

" _What's funny babe?"_ Stephen enquired as he sat back down; wanting to know what had caused her to genuinely smile for the first time this evening.

" _Oh, just a text from Meredith. It's nothing."_ She stumbled.

Her phone buzzed again. She could see Owen subtlety had his phone under the table, not even looking while he was texting as to not give them away.

 _You look incredible tonight by the way x_

" _Must be really funny, you look really flustered."_ He added, giving her upper thigh a playful squeeze under the table.

Cristina had never been more thankful to see Jenna Freeman coming towards her. Talk about perfect timing.

" _Doctor Yang, I hope you enjoyed your meal. Sorry to tear you away from your friends."_ She smiled and waved to everyone on the table. _"But now it's time for your welcome speech."_

…..

Owen couldn't take his eyes off her for one second. She was absolutely captivating up on that stage.

It gave him such an over-whelming sense of pride to see her command such authority in front of the world's medical elite. He never doubted her for a second; even as a resident she commanded such authority over everyone regardless if they outranked her or not. As much as that did cause headaches within the hospital, he very quickly learnt that Cristina Yang was not a woman you could control or reign in – she was a beautiful creature who needed the freedom to be truly excellent.

And excellent she certainly was.

Throughout the speech he kept trying to hone in on what she was saying, but it was impossible. Not when she was looking like that. _How is it possible for that woman to be even more beautiful than I remember?_

He shouldn't have text her while they were at dinner. It was too reminiscent of when they were together, texting each other dirty little things whenever they were at social gatherings – or even at work. But he couldn't help himself. No matter where they were, she was always the only person in the room he wanted to be near.

As wrong as it was, it had given him pleasure to see how his texts had made her blush and squirm. He saw the same familiar naughty glint in her eyes which immediately made his mind travel down a path he no longer had a right to travel down.

 _Stop it Owen. He told himself. You can't do this to yourself again; it's not fair to you or to her. She's happy now, and Stephen seems like a nice dude - even if that kiss he gave her was totally unnecessary._

So lost was he in his thoughts of his ex-wife, and all the things he'd like to do to her, that he barely noticed the speech finish and everyone moving to a standing ovation.

This is going to be a very long and hard week he thought to himself.

….

As soon as she left the stage, Cristina headed straight for the exit. She desperately needed some fresh air. Grabbing a whole bottle of champagne on her way out, she snuck out to sit on one of the hospital's fire escapes.

She clearly delivered the speech well – she got laughter in the right places, and was treated to a rapturous standing ovation at the end. But the entire time she was up there she could not get Owen out of her head.

She kept thinking about his hands. Boy, he had great hands; he worked magic with those hands. She thought about how it would feel to be touched and caressed by those hands again. This had caused her mind to bring up flashbacks of what it felt like to be naked with him, against him, underneath him. Her mind was racing and her pulse was throbbing, along with another part of her anatomy -much to her annoyance.

 _How does he still have this effect on me?_

She took several large swigs of champagne straight from the bottle and pulled out her phone.

She considered calling Meredith for the longest time, but decided against it. Instead she started typing out a very badly advised text:

 _Meet me in my office in 5 minutes x_


	10. Chapter 10

"Oh my god" Cristina gasped, trying to get her breath back as she came back down to earth.

She looked down at Stephen, who was still struggling to get his breath back, and who still looked very shell shocked. The last thing he expected when she summoned him to her office was her jumping his bones like that; and he certainly did not expect the type of rigorous sex they just had on her sofa. It's a good job he had good stamina.

In no frame of mind for post-sex cuddling, she promptly stood up and slipped her dress back on – gesturing Stephen to help her with her zipper.

" _Are you going to tell me what that was about?"_ he whispered in her ear as he fastened her dress.

She kept her back to him, scared her face would give her away.

" _Why? Are you complaining? Was the sex not good for you? Because you seemed to have a good time, unless you faked it."_

He ran his fingers up and down the exposed area of her back and gently planted kisses across her shoulder blades. He needed her to open up, not close herself off.

" _Okay, firstly I never fake it with you – but that wasn't sex Cristina, that was screwing. You barely looked at me and you didn't let me kiss you – we didn't connect the way we usually do. Don't get me wrong, that type of sex is very hot when we've just had a fight, but as far as I'm aware we haven't had a fight. So I'm asking you what that was all about."_

She turned to face him, his eyes were full of concern and he now had a very angry bite mark on his shoulder thanks to her – perhaps she had been too rough.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him gently and deeply to try and quell his fears.

" _I'm sorry."_ She whispered. _"I've been worrying about this speech for so long, and it was such a rush up there that I think I needed a release. Turns out adrenalin and lots of alcohol turns me into a beast."_

He seemed to believe her. _"It's okay sweetheart."_ He started running his hands over her body, stroking her breasts through the silk material in her dress. She felt him harden against her.

" _How about we give this another go_ " He said softly, planting kisses up her neck. _"And maybe this time we can be a little nicer to one another. I'm pretty sure that bite you gave me drew blood."_

Cristina pulled away from his embrace slowly.

" _Ha, yes sorry about that babe. How about I make it up to you later tonight?"_ She shot him a playful wink to try and stop him being alarmed about her behaviour. _"I'm probably in so much trouble already for not being down there networking, I should really head downstairs. I'll leave now while you put your clothes back on – can't be seen to leave my office together, people will talk."_

She smoothed her hair down, leaned over to kiss him one last time and left her office as quick as she could without alarming him.

She felt sick to her stomach as feelings of guilt overcame her.

She hadn't cheated on Stephen, but she definitely felt like she had just committed a huge betrayal. What was wrong with her?

Stephen was a good guy, he didn't deserve to be used in the way she had just used him. He didn't deserve the fact that the entire time she was screwing him in her office she didn't think of him once. He didn't deserve her imagining that it was Owen inside of her as opposed to him. He didn't deserve her biting his shoulder to prevent her screaming Owen's name when she came.

….

Some people listen to ocean music, others do Yoga, but for Cristina Yang the sound of her 3D printers was a sure fire way to calm her down.

This room was her happy place, where she truly felt at peace. Leaning against the desk, she closed her eyes and temporarily shut out the rest of the world.

She had no idea how long she remained that way, but without even opening her eyes she could feel his presence - before he even opened his mouth to speak she knew who it was.

" _This reminds me of the time you threw a house-warming for us at the firehouse, and disappeared for the whole evening."_ He purred quietly as he stood in the doorway.

She smiled fondly at the memory. _"Hey, it's my party and I can bail if I want to."_

He walked further into the room and started making his way through the maze of 3D printers. _"This is like a heart theme park. You've not done bad for yourself at all."_

" _I've done okay I guess. Anyway, what's been going down at Grey Sloan?"_ She responded softly.

And just like that they fell back into conversation as if no time had passed - it had come back as quickly as the electricity they both felt when he kissed her cheek earlier.

For over an hour they talked, laughed, joked with a comfortable ease. Although it hadn't gone unnoticed by either of them that Stephen, or Owen's baby hadn't come up in conversation. Here they were both avoiding real-life again. They also kept a respectable distance from each other throughout the entirety of their conversation. It was as if they were scared that one move, one step forward and they would cross a line that they both clearly wanted to cross, but were equally scared to do so.

Out of the blue their bubble was burst by Karev, marching into the room with a clear sense of purpose, all the while looking at the floor - he clearly thought he'd see something he really didn't want to see.

" _Oh look, it's the panty-police_." Cristina stated dryly. _"It's okay Evil Spawn you don't have to avert your gaze. Look, we're a respectable distance from each other."_

Alex looked up, relieved – but also embarrassed at the whole situation. He was a grown man, a surgeon, yet here he was making sure his friends were not feeling each other up in a darkened room.

" _Yang, where the hell have you been? Do you know how many people are looking for you? Come with me before they send out a search party."_

" _Jeeez, calm down I'm coming."_ She turned back to smile at Owen sadly before exiting the room and heading down the hallway with Karev.

As he saw her walk away and slowly disappear from view, Owen felt his heart break just that bit more. How was it possible that she was breaking it all over again?

He looked around at her 3D printers, perhaps she could find a way to print him a new one so he could stop feeling like this.


	11. Chapter 11

**So this is a much shorter chapter, but only because the next one is all Crowen interaction. I would have added it onto this but, but I felt they deserve their own chapter : )**

" _Great presentation today man. Another beer?"_

" _Cheers Stephen, make it a scotch – I am celebrating after all."_

It made Cristina happy to see Stephen and Karev get on so well. She'd never admit, but Evil Spawn was the closest thing she had to a brother; an irritating, angry brother - but a brother nonetheless.

" _So, how do you think I did?"_ Alex turned his attention to Cristina when Stephen headed up to the bar.

" _Well, you didn't suck and you didn't embarrass yourself."_ That was as much of a compliment as we was getting.

It was moments like this that made her miss Seattle more and more. She had never been one for sentimentality, but after what they had been through – Izzie, George, many life threatening situations - Alex and Meredith were her family and she always wanted them in her life.

" _He's a good guy you know."_

" _I know. What's your point?"_ She snapped back.

" _Have you seen Owen?"_

Cristina shook her head in response. It had been 3 days since their encounter in her printing lab. She wasn't sure if she was avoiding him on purpose, she had been very busy – but it wasn't as if he had sought her out either.

She had considered texting him, to wish him luck for his presentation tomorrow but had decided against it. No good would come from it.

" _Well, that's probably for the best. You two are addicted to each other, and addiction is not sustainable, no matter how good it feels at the time."_

Cristina pulled a face. _"Did Meredith give you this crap to say?"_

Karev winced. _"Yeah, kinda. Oh come on, you know that me and you are crap at this sort of thing. We thrive on insults."_

She laughed. _"Yes, indeed we do. So how about we get back to that an you stop quizzing me about the men in my life."_

" _Deal."_

Stephen returned to the table with everyone's drinks. _"So, what are we talking about?"_

After a couple of hours, many drinks and even more insults fired back and forth, Cristina decided to call it a night – leaving Karev and Stephen to continue bonding.

As she walked through the peaceful streets of Zurich her mind couldn't help but travel back to Owen. Seeing him in the flesh the other night, and talking like old times had brought back the same feelings of comfort, warmth and… home.

Only, he wasn't her home anymore. This place was her home, Stephen was her home, and no good could come from opening that door again. Even the hour they spent together the other night had messed with her head in ways that she couldn't describe. She was avoiding being alone with Stephen since she used him in her office, pretending to be asleep whenever he came to bed – scared that any form of intimacy would make her crave her ex-husband even more.

She had spent too long learning to live without him to ruin everything she had now.

 _It's just 3 more days. You don't have to see him again. You know the itinerary for the rest of the week, he can be avoided. Yes, that's what I'll do. Like Meredith says, I'm great at avoidance, and then everything can just go back to normal._

However, as determined as she was to avoid Owen hunt at all costs, it still didn't stop the tears flowing from her eyes.

…

Owen paced up and down his hotel room.

He couldn't sleep, as hard as he tried. He'd even gone for what turned out to be a ten mile run in order to exhaust himself out - but to no avail. The truth is he hadn't been able to sleep since he last saw her 3 nights ago, still as perfect and beautiful as ever. Only there was something slightly different, she seemed at peace. Watching her in her own research facility, doing what she loved reinforced to him, however painful, that she had made the right decision to leave.

That thought brought him such immense joy and sadness in equal measure. He wasn't sure what he had expected out of this visit, but even in his wildest fantasies he couldn't picture her with him again.

He knew she was probably feeling the same way, which was precisely why he had kept out of her way as much as possible for the past 3 days, and she had done the same. They were both masters at avoiding what was really going on - but in this case it was probably for the best.

One question he couldn't quite shake was why she had invited him to come in the first place.

He was shaken from his thoughts by a gentle knock at the door.

 _If that's Karev checking up on me again, I swear…._

Only it wasn't Karev.

Owen wasn't sure if it was sleep deprivation, wishful thinking or if it was really his ex- wife standing there, slightly tipsy, looking up at him with those dark brown eyes that he could always get lost in.

" _Hey,"_ She whispered. _"I'm not sure what I'm doing here but, can I come in?"_


	12. Chapter 12

" _How…what, um How did you know my room number?"_ Were the only words Owen could muster as he guided Cristina into his room.

" _I organised the conference dummy."_ She giggled. _"It wasn't hard. Although two minutes ago I accidentally knocked on 306 instead of 309. Doctor Ladbrookes was very confused, and I definitely interrupted a reunion he was having with his ex girlfriend. Ooops."_

He watched her as she made way to the mini-bar, pulling out a bottle of champagne and unceremoniously slumping down on his bed.

 _What is she doing?_

" _You gonna stand there looking all gormless, or are you gonna join me for a drink?"_

Not one to question, he nervously moved over to the bed and sat down next to her – watching as she took large swigs from the very over-priced champagne. He was very confused by this turn of events, but he knew by now that nothing about Cristina Yang was predictable.

" _So, I haven't seen you in a few days."_

She smiled nervously. _"Yeah I know. Sorry, I've been so swamped and I just… I."_

" _I know."_ He smiled, taking the champagne and taking several large gulps himself.

After several minutes of silence she perked up.

" _Wanna run your presentation past me?"_

The last thing Owen wanted was to rehearse that damn presentation again, but he also didn't want her to leave – so he stood up and obliged.

Cristina sat back and admired her ex husband, pacing up and down – delivering his speech with such authority and passion, even if it was just to an audience of one. The serious intent on his face was too much not to make fun of, so she attempted to distract him by playfully throwing various objects in his direction.

Owen knew exactly what she was doing. She had always been a tease, and he wasn't going to break focus – that was until she threw a champagne cork directly into his eye.

" _Oi, you!"_ He laughed, trying to pretend to be mad. _"What are you doing?"_

She smirked. _"Just testing your resolve under pressure, as a leading trauma surgeon you can't get distracted up on that stage."_

He sat back down on the bed. _"Well I'll be fine, I don't imagine anyone will be lobbing things at me tomorrow."_ He paused for a beat. _"Will you be there tomorrow?"_

" _Do you want me to be?"_

He smiled gently. _"I'd love for you to be."_

They sat there staring at each other in comfortable silence for a while, taking it in turns to drink champagne directly from the bottle until her face went serious, but still with softness in her eyes. She hesitated for a brief second.

" _Owen."_ She said softly. _"Tell me about your daughter."_

….

It delighted Owen to see the joy and happiness in her eyes as he shared stories of his baby girl. And her genuine gasps of joy as he showed her photos. It was a beautiful sight to see her genuinely happy for him.

" _Now, not all babies are cute. But she is simply adorable."_ Cristina beamed, scrolling through the many photos Owen had on his phone. _"Thank god she got Teddy's hair and not yours."_ She gave him a playful wink and elbow in the ribs. _"And with Teddy as a Mom, she's bound to be very intelligent."_

" _Haha, thank you. She has my eyes though – I contributed something."_

She looked up at him, directly into his eyes and sighed. _"Yes. Yes she does. Lucky kid."_

Before she could get too lose in those eyes she broke the stare. _"Oh my god I didn't even ask – what's her name?!"_

Owen paused. _"Her full name is Francesca Megan….. Cristina Hunt."_

She froze. _Did he just say Cristina?_

He continued, knowing that would have probably come as a shock.

" _It was Teddy's idea."_ He continued, not being able to look directly at her. _"We wanted to give her names that honoured the most important women in our lives. People she should look up to – and well, we couldn't think of anyone better."_

Cristina stifled a small, yet confused laugh. _"So when she's older and asks where her names come from you'll be happy to say 'Well actually sweetheart we named you after Daddy's ex-wife?'"_

" _Not in those words."_ He looked at her. _"She'll be told that not only was Cristina Mommy's number one star student who she's incredibly proud of, "_ he paused slightly. _"but she was also the woman who saved her Daddy from a lifetime of crushing darkness. The woman who not only resurrected the lightness in him, but also was brave enough to allow her Dad to be happy."_

She saw his eyes brimming with happy tears. She was definitely not expecting that answer.

" _And what about Francesca? I didn't realise you had yet another important woman in your life_." She laughed uncomfortably, trying to move past the moment they just shared.

" _I named her after Frankie McNeil."_

It all made sense to her now.

" _You have those patients whose loss still impacts you. That was the last big case we worked on together. We worked so hard to save those 3 children, and while we both did all we could it seemed like a way to honour her. She was such a wonderful kid. I dunno, it might be morbid but,"_

" _No,"_ Cristina interjected softly, reaching out for his harm. _"I think it's beautiful."_

Owen cleared his throught and sat back against the headboard. _"So, in the interest of sharing – why don't you tell me more about Stephen? He seems nice. Of course on principal I have to dislike him, but I'd like to know more about him."_

Cristina shrugged and sat back next to him.

" _There's not much to say really. He's in Peds, as you know. He works for Doctors without Borders."_

" _I NEVER would have pictured you with a peds guy."_

She laughed. _"I know, me neither. But it works. He's away for four months, back in Zurich for four – and so on. It's great, as much as I love having him back I also really value the time apart. It gives me a chance to really throw myself into my work."_

" _Are you happy?"_

" _Yeah."_

He swallowed a lump in his throat. _"Do you love him?"_

A faint smile crept up on her face as she looked straight ahead. _"Yeah, I do."_

He didn't know why he asked that question, it wouldn't offer any comfort.

She attempted to make a joke to quell the tension. _"You know, you move a lot faster than I did. I think you married and divorced Amelia before I even began to think of taking things further with Stephen."_ She rolled her eyes in mock disbelief.

Owen sighed. _"Yeah, well me and Amelia were…Let's just say we both rushed into something that we shouldn't have. We were both damaged and seeking to fill a hole in our lives. There's a reason it didn't last."_

" _I don't blame you. Personally I always found her to be extremely annoying."_

He laughed and put his arm around her. Almost instinctively she curled up against his chest, immediately feeling calm hearing his heartbeat against her ear. Both laying there is complete peaceful silence, at total ease with one another.

" _Owen?"_ She whispered softly.

" _Yeah?"_ he could hear her voice wobble, ad what sounded like the beginning of tears.

" _You know that I'll never….I could never…..I couldn't."_

He lifted up her head gently, used his thumb to wipe the tears from her eyes and planted a kiss on the top of her head.

" _I know."_ He hushed. _"I'll never love anyone the way I loved…. Love you."_

They both clung to each other for the longest time before each other's presence sent them both into the soundest night sleep either of them had enjoyed in a very long time.


	13. Chapter 13

Owen woke that morning, feeling at peace with the world.

He awoke briefly a few hours earlier and gazed down at Cristina, just in case he had dreamt it. She still pouted in her sleep, still slept so soundly that he instinctively had to check her pulse. He didn't know what this was, but it felt like coming home again.

Only this time when he woke he found that she was no longer there. He rolled over and saw a note on the pillow, along with two aspirin.

 _Take these in case you have a hangover. Kick ass today Dr Hunt, I'll be cheering you on in the audience. C x_

…

Cristina frantically changed outfits in her office, thank god she had a wardrobe there.

She hadn't intended to sleep over, but then again she hadn't intended to go and see him. Truthfully she didn't even realise that's where she was headed until she was there, knocking on his door.

Checking her phone she saw several messages, all enquiring about her whereabouts. The first batch from Stephen.

 _Hey babe, me and Alex are calling it a night now. I'll be home in 20 mins. I'll try not to wake you – unless you want me to ;)xx_

 _Hey – are you okay? I assume you're at the office?_

 _I don't mean to get all overly protective, but I do want to know you're safe. If you don't message back in ten minutes then I'm heading over there._

There were similar messages from Meredith and Alex which she started reading through when she heard her office door close behind her.

" _So, most guys would freak out if they arrived home and found that their girlfriend – who was drunk the last time he saw her – was not at home sound asleep. But no, not me. See, my first thought was not that you were injured, or were off with another guy – my first thought was that my beautiful, talented and dedicated girlfriend had gone to her office, that dedicated is she to her work_."

She turned to face him, not able to figure out if he looked more angry, sad or confused.

" _So, imagine my surprise when I drag my ass over here in the early hours of the morning and find that you weren't here. You weren't in your print lab either_."

His voice was eerily calm and steady, which was having the complete opposite effect on her.

" _So, do you want to tell me why when I was looking out of this window ten minutes ago I saw you leaving the Grand Union Hotel, in the same clothes you were wearing the night before?"_

She froze, considering her options. The only option was to tell the truth of course, but she was determined to downplay it. She and Owen technically didn't do anything wrong last night. It didn't stop her heart beating violently against her chest though.

" _Oh? Sorry, my phone died I didn't realise you'd worry. I went to see Owen, to see if he was nervous for tomorrow. We had a bit more to drink, and I guess I was that exhausted I just passed out."_

Stephen said nothing. His facial expression did not change either.

She moved over towards him. _"Seriously I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you. I'll keep my phone on in future."_ She attempted to stroke his arm, but he batted her away.

" _You are joking right_?" His tone definitely showing more anger now. _"I swear to god Cristina, are you seriously going to act casual about this? Like it's not a big deal? Because if you don't think it is then this is a much bigger problem than I originally thought."_

She went on the defensive. _"Because it's not a big deal. I didn't do anything wrong."_

" _You don't think it's weird to have drunken slumber parties with your ex-husband? Call me old fashioned but that's pretty messed up."_

Putting it like that, she had to admit it sounded weird.

" _I know how it must look."_ She conceded. " _And I appreciate how weird it must be for you to have him here. It's weird for me too. But it felt even weirder to me that he was here and I hadn't really seen him – like it makes it more of a big deal. He was a very important person in my life Stephen, so yeah I would say it's not a big deal – it's just like when Meredith comes to visit in a way."_

Stephen scoffed. She knew herself that it was probably a bit of a stretch to compare him to Meredith.

" _Yeah, except the difference is when Meredith comes to visit you don't need Alex to act as the 'Panty Police' to keep you apart from each other….Yeah I overheard Alex on the phone to Meredith last night. To quote him "Yes, I have been successful as the panty police and have managed to keep Yang and Hunt from doing the nasty"….."_

This conversation was very quickly deteriorating. The only thing Cristina could think of doing was acting like everything was normal, and she wasn't sure who she was trying to convince – Stephen or herself.

" _I'm sorry you had to hear that – it's just our humour. Meredith and Alex just… I guess they were worried that I might do something stupid. And, as ridiculous as it sounds I would be the same in their position, he was a big part of my life back then. There's a reason it didn't work out and why we're not still together, but…"_

" _Do you still love him?"_ He cut her off, with hurt in his eyes.

" _What kind of question is that? You know I love you."_

" _That's not what I'm asking. I know you love me. I'm asking if you still love him."_

How on earth was she supposed to answer that question. Everything in her head was so messed up. She thought she was over him, she had worked so hard and gone to the another continent to give them both the clean break they needed – but now that he was here it was like she was back at square one again.

Her face clearly said it all as Stephen backed away and out of her office.

 _What am I doing?_


	14. Chapter 14

**Hi everyone, sorry for the slow update, I had some very sad family news that has delayed things a bit – but writing is helping me through it.**

 **Glad you're all enjoying the story so far, have made this chapter slightly longer to apologise for the delay. Really appreciate the reviews – thank you.**

…..

The presentation is going well, Owen thought to himself as he stood up on that stage.

He had always been great at commanding an audience, it's what made him such a good chief of surgery, but he had to admit that spending time with Cristina last night had given him some extra swagger. After all, she had basically admitted to him that he was still the love of her life – as she was his.

He saw Burke in the audience and felt childishly smug as he ran through his presentation. _Yeah pal, she never loved you the way she loved.._ _ **loves**_ _me._

His imagination was running away with him. He didn't know what last night meant, but all he knew was that their connection was still there, still as strong as it had ever been. All these years he had tried to suppress it, put her in a tiny box in the corner of his mind and try to move on.

He knew it couldn't go anywhere – or could it though? The biggest thing that tore them apart was his desire for a child (which he now had) and her need to be a medical titan (which she now was). They had grown up and were probably mature enough to try and make their lives intertwine again. She was clearly happy being in a long distance relationship, so perhaps that's something they could do? Both being surgeons had substantial financial perks, so they could afford to fly back and forth to see each other. Teddy was fully back in the dating game so there was no risk of awkwardness there. Family comes in many forms nowadays so having another strong woman in his daughter's life could only be a positive thing surely?

He was getting ahead of himself.

As his presentation drew to an end, and everyone got on their feet he was scouring the crowd to see her face. He could see Karev, Shane Ross, even Stephen in the crowd but not her.

She said she'd be here.

….

" _Oh Cristina, how could you be so stupid. I'm also going to KILL Alex for failing to stop this."_

She sighed down the phone to her person. _"Not helpful Mer. I technically didn't DO anything – we just hung out. There were no shenanigans of any kind."_

Cristina could practically hear Meredith's eyes roll down the phone.

" _You and I both know that you and Owen cannot simply just hang out. Not even a divorce or dating other people was enough to keep you apart. You literally had to go to another time zone to…"_

" _Yes okay Meredith point taken,"_ She bit back. _"But you and I both know that you only get one true love in your life, and I can't just ignore the fact that Owen is that for me."_

" _I know."_ Meredith paused, her tone softening. _"You know, the other night I had a dream that me, you, Derek and Owen were all hanging out. Nothing special – we were just having drinks at Joe's, talking about surgeries – you were teasing Derek about how boring Neuro was, our husbands trying to talk us out of doing more Tequila shots…."_ Cristina could almost hear Meredith choking back tears down the phone… _"And it was like everything was right and normal again with the world. But it's not, and it will never be that way again. But at least I can be comforted with those memories, as should you be. Don't tarnish them by trying to create a reality that you can't sustain."_

She knew what Meredith was getting at, but her words were just making her more confused than ever.

Meredith tragically had the love of her life taken away from her. She had no choice but to cling on to happy memories and accept her lot in life. Owen was still alive. His heart was still beating, and beating for her. Since Derek died Meredith had often said she would give anything in this world for just a few more moments with him; it seems silly to throw away that connection with the love of your life when they are still alive in this world.

" _Hello? Cristina, are you still there."_

" _I can't breathe with him here Meredith."_ She gasped. _"I agree with everything you said just now – really I do. I've spent the past 5 years creating a life that I want, making the sacrifice worth it. And after the longest time I found that I could breathe again, and in Stephen I found something else real in terms of a relationship. But he's only been here 4 days and already I can't breathe. He's all I can think about."_

…

As she marched into the presentation hall she spotted Owen in an instant. He was surrounded by a plethora of surgeons, all patting him on the back and asking him questions about his presentation.

It didn't take long for his eyes to meet hers. She could see the relief, but slightly hurt expression in his face – he definitely would have expected her there in the audience.

Feeling electricity course through her veins at just the mere sight of him she felt even more resolved about what she had to do. Signalling him out of the room she made her way back up to her office, knowing that he'd follow her.

Staring out of the window, she could hear the door close behind her, but she couldn't bring herself to turn around.

" _So, I kinda killed it up there. I think I did Grey Sloan Memorial proud."_ Owen said softly. "Were you _in the audience? I couldn't see-"_

" _You have to leave."_ She whispered, still staring out of the window.

" _Excuse me?"_ Owen let out a small chuckle – not fully taking in what she had just said.

" _You shouldn't be here. This is a mistake. You need to get on the next flight back to Seattle and just leave and everything can get back to normal."_ She was speaking straight to the point. She couldn't afford to let her emotions override her in this conversation.

" _Cristina…. I don't understand. You want me gone?"_

She remained silent, which only caused Owen's temper to rise slightly.

" _Look, if you're going to order me to leave you could at least have the decency to look me in the eye and have an adult conversation – I thought we'd moved past the silent treatment with each other."_

She continued looking out of the window, but could feel him walking closer towards her.

" _I know it's weird. But it's also not. Last night was… it felt right Cristina, like coming home again. And I know it's scary and I know it is far from simple – but YOU brought me out here so –"_

" _Oh for god's sake Owen I didn't bring you here."_ She turned around to face him, the hurt and shock in his face was breaking her heart, but she continued anyway.

" _I didn't have a say in who gets invited to this – I have a whole team who decides these things. Trust me, your invitation came just as much as a shock to me as it did for you."_

" _Wow. Well thank you so much for clearing things up."_ The sarcasm barely concealable in his voice. _"Here I was thinking we'd reached a good place – it was you Cristina, YOU who came to see ME last night, and then once again you pull the rug out from underneath me and tell me you don't want me here."_

" _Of course I WANT you here."_ She tried her best to keep her volume down, but all of her supressed emotions came flooding out. _"That's the problem. Ever since I heard you were coming you have been ALL I can think about and it's killing me."_

Owen's eyes started to fill with tears.

" _I tried everything I could to keep you at arm's length. Christ sake I even wore my hair down because I know you like it when I wear it up."_ She was bordering on hysterical now.

" _I re-arranged my schedule so I didn't have to see you and Meredith drafted in Karev to keep us apart – but one look at you and I you are all I can think about."_

" _I had to cross a whole continent to learn to live without you Owen. And FINALLY I get to a place where I can, and you show up and all of a sudden I'm a giddy teenager again. I can't even make love to my boyfriend without closing my eyes and willing it to be you instead. So I'm asking, please, please go and let me breathe again."_

Cristina squeezed her eyes shut in a desperate bid to keep the tears from falling, but to no avail – and she felt a familiar hand gently wipe them from her cheek.

" _Just breathe Cristina, breathe."_ Owen hushed in an attempt to calm her down – and all it took was a look in in each other's eyes before their lips met each other's again.

Just like coming home.

…

Navigating each other's bodies was like second nature, instinct.

Even though it had been five years, it was like a well-rehearsed dance – their bodies just fit together. Biology and chemistry taking over, with no room for thought except for pleasure.

It was like the past five years hadn't happened, and just evaporated into thin air. He wasn't a father of a new-born baby, with another failed marriage behind him living in Seattle, and she wasn't in charge of a prestigious medical centre in Switzerland. They were just Cristina and Owen.

The sex started off as hurried and frantic at first, as if every minute could be their last. Clothes were ripped, skin was scratched and bitten with ferocious intensity – but soon it became slow, sensual and so completely overwhelming that when they both came tears were streaming from both eyes. They both knew no-one could ever have that effect on each other in this lifetime.

They lay there for hours on the sofa in her office, stroking each other and drifting in and out of comfortable sleep. Not one of them saying a word for the longest time – until Cristina felt compelled to break their blissful silence.

" _Owen, I don't know –"_

He pressed his lips gently against hers in a successful attempt to silence her.

He stroked her hair. _"Cristina, ssshhh. I don't know what lies beyond the walls of this office. I don't know what we both want. I don't know what this means. But I do know that I love you, and you love me. And right in this second we're here. Together. And I don't want to think about the future or be responsible right now. Can you not think with me?"_

Cristina kissed him back and gently positioned herself on top of him to signal her mutual agreement.

….

" _What do you mean you haven't seen her all day?!"_

" _Listen Mer, I have better things to do than keep tabs on Yang all the time. I'm smashing it here by the way. My presentation went amazingly well, and I've managed to secure so much funding for GSM's paediatrics ward - you're welcome by the way."_

" _Alex, we're not talking about you right now. We're talking about Cristina. We had a conversation about Owen earlier and I'm worried she's back-sliding."_

Alex was so bored of this conversation already.

" _Relaaaaaaaaax Mer. Jeez. I was at Hunt's presentation this morning – he also smashed it – and Yang was nowhere to be seen."_

" _But that was like five hours ago Alex. I was on the phone to Cristina at the time. Have you seen Hunt since then?"_

" _No, like I said I'm networking and getting money for our hospital."_

Without hesitation Meredith hung up the phone and grabbed a suitcase. She was going to Zurich.


End file.
